Nishika Jardine, Veteran and Veteran’s Ombuds
Photo Credit: Nishika Jardine
Esprit de Corps Magazine July 2021 // Volume 28 Issue 6
Let's Talk About Women in the Military – Column 28
By Military Woman
Question:
Should everyone with military-related trauma have access to government funded peer support services?
Answer:
Yes, of course, they should – but don’t they already?
Since 2001, the Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS) program, jointly funded and run by CAF and VAC, has been providing peer support services to all those with persistent psychological difficulty resulting from military operations, whether training, domestic or international.
So, given that mandate one might have incorrectly assumed that OSISS also provides military sexual trauma (MST) peer support.
Although some leaders within OSISS have made individual efforts to welcome all those with mental anguish as a consequence of their military service, the OSISS program has a history of excluding those with MST. A variety of reasons have been cited for why MST support has not been formally included within OSISS programming including the questioning of if MST is “operational.”
So, what exactly is MST if not an operational injury? That remains to be seen, as the federal government is still working on its own definition of what MST is; a definition that will hopefully capture the diverse physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of this workplace injury.
Harm from MST arises from the initial sexual trauma(s) and/or the subsequent institutional betrayal and moral injury from dysfunctional workplace responses often aggravated by mandatory reporting requirements. MST causes real symptoms, dysfunction, pain, and suffering which together constitute an undeniable and serious occupational, if not also operational, stress injury.
With time, more and more people are viewing MST as a bone fide operational stress injury (OSI). Many MST cases occur while on operations or training. Other MST cases occur during the 24/7 operational like tempo often demanded by normal military life. Yet others consider MST and OSI to foundationally be moral injuries and thus with similar peer support needs and benefits.
Another reason cited for excluding MST from OSISS services was lack of funding to provide the specialized clinician oversight required for MST peer mentor screening and training to ensure both the health and wellness of the MST peer mentors and quality control of their services. Also, some of the MST community expressed a preference for peer support services in single, vs mixed, gender group settings.
The Veterans Ombud reviewed all of this in her recently published investigative report “Peer Support For Veterans Who Have Experienced MST,” which validated the need for improved access to MST peer supports. The Minister of Veterans Affairs is presently working with CAF/DND to use the 2021 federal budget funding tailored for the development of an online and in-person peer support group for those who have experienced MST.
So, what would the ideal MST peer support program look like?
A logical and sustainable way to ensure equitable peer support program quality and access, would be to work collaboratively within the already long-standing OSISS infrastructure. Using the newly available federal funding, OSISS could be rebranded into an “Occupational” Stress Injury Social Support service provider and with a Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) ensure all its programs are flexible enough to meet the varied needs of people with different types of service-related trauma(s). New MST aware clinical staff could be hired to ensure all OSISS peer mentors were trauma, and specifically MST, informed. OSISS could then offer groups online and in person, in the language of the person’s choice, with single or mixed genders, focusing on three service streams – combat, MST and a combined group open to any military specific trauma(s).
The new federal funding could also allow for an evidence-based update to military-related trauma peer support programs to include the rapidly growing understanding of the importance of moral injury. Peer support that normalizes our various internal responses to external traumatic events may well be the way of the future. Regardless, let’s agree that everyone with military-related trauma exposure distress or symptoms should have equitable access to government funded peer support programs and services.
Let’s get these long overdue MST peer support programs up and running!
Update:
2023. The Veterans Ombud’s annual report card reflection to the department notes that none of the “Peer Support For Veterans Who Have Experienced MST” report recommendations have been implemented, yet.
2024. The Government of Canada continues to debate what the Canadian definition of MST should be and how to best provide peer support for those impacted by MST. Initial peer support programming attempts for MST via the “Togetherall” chat board ceased in March. Hopefully more peer support programming options for supports soon follow! On a bright note – the mandatory “Duty to Report” sexual misconduct incidents was officially rescinded June 30.
